


He Watched Her

by Doteruna



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 03:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1883673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doteruna/pseuds/Doteruna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short story I wrote on Quotev.com a while ago and submitted to my school paper/artist collections book, where it was published. Just thought you guys would like to read it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Watched Her

He saw her for the first time when he was fourteen. He had just started his first job, a cashier at a small, local bowling alley and it was his first day when she walked in with her father. She was fourteen too. They paid for one game, and the girl was surprisingly good at bowling. They left after an hour, smiling.

He saw her every week after that, each Friday night at 7 o'clock, skipping in with her father, playing one game, and leaving. They always laughed, smiled, had fun. He liked watching her smile.

He would watch from his stool behind the cash register as she'd bounce in, her wavy golden hair glowing softly, like sunshine, her smile lighting up the room. He'd pretend he was looking at the clock if someone asked him what he was staring at.

He watched for a year as she came in, her father slowly starting to slump over, his hair graying. He saw the way she had to mature as her father started using a cane, he saw the way she tried to deny what was happening.

He saw her when she came in alone, her eyes red from crying, as she smiled sadly at him and asked for one game. She paid and left an hour later.

He saw as she accepted her loneliness, unable to say anything else to her except "Seven dollars fifty cents, please."

He saw how she came one day with a boy, smiling wider than she had since the day she came in alone.

He saw how the boy made her laugh and giggle, made her happy.

He watched as she came with bruises, her smile slowly sliding off her face as the days went by. He saw how she flinched when the boy touched her. He saw how she tried to cover the marks with her sleeves.

He watched as she came in alone again, a bandage covering part of her forehead. When she came up to pay for her game, she saw him looking.  
"I broke up with him," she said. She took her change, and left an hour later.

He watched as she waved to him, every Friday night when she pushed the door open to leave. He waved back.

He wondered why she kept coming. He knew that she had friends, and she must be busy on a Friday night, yet she still came to bowl for an hour every week.

He asked her one time, quietly, why she still came. She looked up at him with huge, glassy eyes, and whispered, "It was tradition."

He watched as she turned eighteen, her birthday on Friday, coming to play her game with a small flower pot and a tiny balloon tied to the stem.

He watched as she drew herself back together, held herself higher, walked a tad more confidently.

He watched as she would smile and wave at him as she left, just a small flutter of her fingers meant only for him.

For four years, he watched, burying his feelings behind a mask.

Finally he let them show.

He spoke to her, and he watched as she smiled softly, grasped his rough, calloused hands in her smooth ones, and said, "Of course."

He watched as she waited for him that Friday night, until his shift was over, and he left with her and took her to a movie.

The next week, he asked for a shift change, leaving his Friday nights open, and he spent them with her, playing a single game together.

He watched as she accepted her scroll of graduation.

He watched from one knee as her eyes widened and she squealed "Yes, yes, yes!"

He watched as she walked down the aisle, alone, with no father to hold her hand, but her head held high.

He watched as she gave birth to their only child.

He watched as her hair began to gray, their child leaving for college.

He watched while she packed their child's things into boxes for him.

He watched as she had to sit down more, wear glasses, move slower.

He watched as she laid in their bed, unable to stand.

He watched as they lowered her casket into the ground.

He watched as she reappeared before him, angelic wings spread out behind her, calling him.

And then he watched as she showed him the afterlife.


End file.
